Governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, during an event in São Paulo Reproduction/TV Globo The governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), apologized this Wednesday (17) to residents of the state who have been dealing with cell phone theft. During an event to hand over vehicles and weapons to the São Paulo police, the governor, who is a pre-candidate for re-election, admitted failure to combat these crimes in the state. "We apologize to the citizen who goes through this, who has a cell phone stolen. The pain and trauma of a robbery, often at gunpoint. It often leaves a trauma. The State has to guarantee security and, when it doesn't guarantee it, it is failing", he declared. "We are not going to hide behind the indicators. They are falling a lot, but as long as citizens are being robbed and their cell phones are stolen, we will not rest. We know that it is crime that bothers us and undermines our sense of security. And citizens have the right to be at peace," said the governor. At the ceremony this Wednesday (17), Tarcísio highlighted that more than 84 thousand cell phones were recovered this year by the São Paulo police, but admitted that more needs to be done. He promised to combat, mainly, the reception of devices, which, in his words, is a “business that fuels crime on the streets”. "We're not going to give this group a break. If there's someone committing theft on the street, there's someone making money from it. It's the same story as Cracolândia. If it existed, it's because there was a business behind it. And it took us time to understand what the business is behind Cracolândia," he said. "It wasn't the sale of crack to drug addicts and homeless people. It was much bigger. And when we realized this, we managed to dismantle the entire house of cards that made it possible for Cracolândia to operate. It won't be any different with this [cell phone theft]", he added. 154 thousand cell phone thefts in 2025 City of SP has more than 150 thousand stolen or stolen cell phones The city of São Paulo alone recorded 154,058 robberies and cell phone thefts between January and December 2025 — equivalent to around 17 incidents per hour. The data is from the Public Security Secretariat (SSP). The total is slightly higher than that recorded in the same period in 2024, when 153,820 cell phones were stolen or stolen in the capital. In 2023, 138,633 devices were taken by criminals. Despite the high volume of crimes, police say they returned 10,477 cell phones last year — just over 6% of the total taken. Neighborhoods in the Center of São Paulo concentrated the highest number of robberies in 2025: República, Santa Ifigênia, Liberdade and Jardins. Together, these four neighborhoods totaled 36,165 incidents. Neighborhoods in the Center concentrate the highest number of cases. Reproduction/TV Globo Next comes Pinheiros and Vila Romana, in the West Zone, with 17,958 robberies and thefts. Itaim Bibi and Santo Amaro, in the South Zone, registered 10,811 cases. To contain this type of crime, the police created, in June last year, the SP Mobile program that cross-references data from stolen cell phones with information provided by telephone operators. The system identifies cell phones that are activated again and sends alerts to users, informing them that the device is stolen or stolen and providing guidance on how to rectify the situation. Police return stolen cell phones to victims in São Paulo Reproduction/TV Globo